Here you will find the undisciplined thought derived from the random notes (loosely labeled research) that are responsible for the Gadfly commentary that appears in this Blog. Your comments are welcome. The best of them will be posted from time to time, with proper attribution, of course.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Peace In Our Time

GADFLYby Mort Malkin

Peace In Our Time

John McCain never made it to the White House, but he has the potential to lead the Peace Movement. ?The confirmed Warrior can swear off war?

John was a Navy plot during the Vietnam War and was shot down over Hanoi. John’s father and grandfather were both Navy men who rose to the rank of Admiral. The military gene must be in the McCain Y chromosome. What hope can there be?

In a recent GADFLY column entitled “The Wherefores of Warfare” a list of reasons for making war was scattered through the essay. The drives to war started with good old fashioned plunder in 2300 BCE under Sargon the Akkadian. The rationalization for war became more sophisticated over the ensuing centuries and included national security, national interest, national strategic interest, and national honor. The essay ends with the most highly questionable reason: to test & assess new weapons.

Enter John McCain, Navy pilot. Vietnam was a good testing ground for Agent Orange and Agents White, Blue and Purple. Defoliate the jungle so our helicopter pilots can see brown skinned men wearing black pajamas moving south with knapsacks of supplies for the Viet Cong. Nah, defoliation of human skin, lungs and livers of our own troops wouldn’t be a problem. While the color coded plant pathogens were used in the jungles of Vietnam, Hanoi was the place to assess the capability of the SAMs (surface to air missiles) supplied by the Soviets to North Vietnam. So, bombing of key bridges, roads and other non-military targets in and around Hanoi started — the very places defended by the SAMs. Would our pilots be able to evade the missiles?

?You mean we were sending our pilots to risk being shot down just so the Pentagon could obtain data on Soviet military capability? John McCain should be as mad as a wet cat in a gunny sack. He ought to join the anti-war movement. Now, let John McCain wage peace in the footsteps of Isaiah.